Application for Clinic/Triage RN position

[countrygurl1989]

I recently applied for a Clinic/Triage RN position at a local clinic that also has an urgent care. I was told the position involves prenatal education, Coumadin clinic, prescription refills and clinic triage. I recently graduated in December and have been working full-time hours on a medical acute care floor at a local smaller hospital (around 200 beds). I also have 3 years of hospital experience in various roles and about 7 years total in the healthcare field. I am a quick learner and motivated and eager to learn new things. I love doing patient teaching, as I wanted to be a teacher before going to nursing school. Any advice for interviewing this position or important aspects of the job I should be aware of? Also I don't have much direct experience with Coumadin clinics so just curious as to what that would entail. I am very excited about this opportunity. Thank you for your help.

[JackiRN, BSN, RN]

My last clinic had a coumadin clinic which basically consisted of scheduling and drawing PT/INRs, and monitoring flowsheets and having docs change orders to adjust coumadin levels. Clinics tend to be much faster paced then people think, so I would comment that you are time efficient, and can work with high volumes.

[pfchang]

Education is a large part of initial Coumadin therapy. I found that things went much more smoothly if I could get to the patient before they left with a new script for Coumadin or upon the first visit after hospital discharge. Coumadin tx is very confusing for patients so I made up printed materials and educated regarding EVERYTHING. The sooner you can do this with the fewer crises you will have yo deal with. Also, you will need some sort of tracking mechanism to keep those pts who do not gets INRs on time from falling through the cracks.

[lynds80]

I also work in anticoagulant clinic. We handle Coumadin, Pradaxa, eliquis, xarelto and lovenox. A lot is patient teaching, changing medications, adjusting doses, triage, problem solving, critical thinking: mi, stroke. It's very very busy. We have about 1100 Coumadin patients. I do like it for the most part. Good luck to you. I worked in patient for about 1 yr, I would much rather work out patient.

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

What pfchang said about Coumadin, but you may have standard guidelines for dose adjustments (you might look up the Michigan Warfarin protocol). Also ask what kind of triage guidelines you will be using. And find out how communication happens there, do they have a daily huddle, meetings, or the like.